SCD commonly causes visual problems. It can affect all parts of the eye, as the abnormally shaped blood cells can occlude of any small vessel in the body. The crescent shaped red blood cells affect the oxygen carrying ability of blood. Therefore, SCD affects all major organs such as the spleen, lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and eyes. As a consequence, patients with SCD can suffer from a widespread of serious pathologies such as: chronic anaemia, stroke, chest pain, tissue necrosis, shortness of breath, kidney damage, recurrent infections and painful sickle cell crises.